Gads Hill School, Higham, Kent

Additional ground for rugby and cricket

This independent school has one playground and is in need of an additional ground for playing rugby, cricket and accommodating an athletic track. In an arrangement with an adjacent farmer 2ha was made available to the school.

This ground has supported row crops of wheat and rape. The topsoil is a silt clay loam which overlies a clay subsoil. As the school is unable to bear the cost of annual sand dressing an intensive drainage system was abandoned in favour of creating a cambered plateau.

The cricket square was located at the height of the camber with a fall in slope away from the square. Swales were incorporated on either side of the plateau to attenuate surface water run-off.